


Heir of Winterfell

by Shaym15



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 17:06:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4187937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaym15/pseuds/Shaym15





	Heir of Winterfell

  The strong, fortified walls of Winterfell rise up around me, its strong stones that have lasted thousands of years, the walls that enemies have tried to crumble, to destroy, yet they remain standing, they remain as strong as the day they were put together, to create this stronghold devout to the rulers of The North, devout to my family who has roamed its halls, who this fortress was made for, The House of Stark. Lord Father stands above me, he stands with his auburn hair slicked back from his face, a hint of stubble coating his chin as Lady Mother stands in a fine gown of grey, a fur collar around her neck as her slender fingers rest against the wood of the balcony. They both wear a blessed smile, them both standing as regal, majestic, the way a king and queen should. The glistening rays of the sun gently touch Lady Mothers cheeks, giving her life, her cheeks a faint red as its rays kiss everything around, the light causing shadows to coat the ground, the sun somewhat blinding from time to time as I move around the courtyard, to view Rodrik as he aims for the center of the target set up a couple of yards away. 

  "Control your breathing Rodrik, steady your breathing and fire" Lord father, King of The North, King Robb Stark sounds, my attention turning to him as my hands lie on my waist, a small smile present on my lips as the arrow falls to the ground instead of the target, although I do not blame him, he has only had nine namedays, he'll learn for sure. 

  "Is that all you have?" Bran jokes, it is only me and him that share Lord fathers auburn hair, our brothers Rickon and Rodrik and our sister Lyanna, have lady mothers dark brown hair that this morning has been done nicely, rolled up to the nape of her neck, northern style. It is quite on the contrary for Bran too has only just managed to conquer the bow and arrow, him being the second youngest at only eleven. 

  "Don't tease your brother" Lady mother raises her voice to battle with the neighing horses in the stables, and the clinks and clangs of the armory as blacksmiths fashion swords or anything to do with weapon making, Bran surely settles down, though a smile still evident on his face. "Your grandmother will be here soon, you all need to go freshen up, go on now" 

  I smile in reply, turning on my heels but the sound of fathers voice fills my ears as he speaks in a raised tone, to ensure I hear him, makes my feet not even leave the ground, craning back round to see as he runs a hand through his auburn hair, slicking it back with his gloved hand. "Ned, I need you to come with me, we have a small council meeting to go to, you'll have to meet your grandmother afterwards". And so I wait, glancing around the courtyard as he retreats from the balcony from where he stands. Winterfell was damaged, damaged to such a mean that most of all the wooden structures had to be rebuilt, however it was enlarged in the process, adding several new structures, and given a new name, The Palace of Winterfell. The Tower of The Hand, one of the tallest towers where the Hand of The King lives and works, Lord Eddard's Holdfast, named in honor of my grandfather, part of the royal apartments, Lady mother and Lord father both have quarters there, and The Guard Tower, the principal seat of the Kingsguard, they live there. I've always been in ore of Winterfell, its magnificence, its shocking beauty, I think it will be hard to live up to the names of my ancestors, my predecessors as King of The North. I am scared. 

  Lord father stands just taller than me, even in his pure black leather boots, he has said I am tall for my age, just like he was apparently or so Grand Lady Catelyn, my grandmother has told me. She says I am identical to him, his smile, his fierce grey eyes that are striking, yet they are sparkling silver in happiness, and his auburn hair, my own lies flat against my forehead. Though Lord father insists that I have Lady mothers fine complexion, her pure, fine cut jawline that could possible cut through marble if she really wanted it too, he insists that I am Lady mother through and through. With a smile on his face, his hand resting on the hilt of his Valyrian Steel sword, Ice, he extends his arm for me to walk, and so he head for The Tower of The Hand for their is a Small Council meeting taking place in a short while. Lord father speaks up, his voice calm and natural as it always has been, it is the voice of my hero for he has always been there for me, even when kingly duties have dictated not, he has always been there for me to talk to, I want to be as good as him, to truly do him proud. 

  "Has your mother told you about your grandparents?" Lord father asks as we pass several guards who are doused, head to toe in silver, pristine, freshly forged chain-mail, they remove their helm as they pass Lord father in respect to their king before continuing past us. 

  "No" I reply, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion, my brain running with why Lord father would bring it up, though I am sure that they would not be in danger, or trouble, it is probably a good thing. 

  "I thought she would have, you have that type of relationship that is so close, I've never truly understood it myself" He replies with a short smile before continuing. "Phiranea and Malaquo are visiting, a raven returned early yesterday evening, they have set out on their ship from Volantis, they'll arrive at Maidenpool where your grandmother will greet them, they'll arrive here in the next couple of weeks, in time for your wedding" 

  My heart somewhat sinks, I knew that it was coming, I knew that at some point it would happen because having an heir as soon as possible would be the best, ideal situation for Lord father, if he and I were to fall, my son bore by my wife would be able to inherit the throne and so on, the more the heirs, the more there is to the throne staying alive, the more my Lord fathers legacy will go on, the king who own back our freedom. My face must look a mess, or hilarious for a smile appears on Lord fathers face as his hand holds open the door to The Tower of the Hand, the large tower that rages up and up, it makes me queasy just looking up at it, and I'll be at the top of it in moments. 

  "You know this would be happening Ned" Lord father continues, his voice completely un-phased, I suppose it is better to be brutally honest than coat it with soft undertones which could lead to misunderstanding. "This is why I have asked you to this Small Council Meeting, I wrote to Prince Trystane of Dorne over a week ago and we believe he has finally agreed, you are going to wed his eldest daughter, Princess Nymeria, a raven arrived this morning, we believe that this will be the yes or no, otherwise, we have other offers" 

  "Princess Nymeria? I don't even know what she looks like?" I reply, physically I accept it, I know that one day I would marry, one day I would produce heirs, one day I would have and make my love a queen, but that is what I fear, will I ever love Princess Nymeria. I do not even know her, I have heard her name once or twice when we held court at Riverrun, I've never had the pleasure to meet her, speak to her, to walk her through the gardens of Winterfell, to have at least one moment. Lord father married for love, he married Lady mother for love despite him promising his hand to one of Lord Walder Frey's many daughters, and in return he offered his uncle, Edmure Tully, Lord of Riverrun to marry one of his daughters instead. However mentally, I fear that I have not accepted it, for I cannot let Lord father down, yet I cant seem to grasp the idea with two hands and say yes, to say I will marry a girl I have never met before in my entire life. 

  "You will, like you will learn to love her, for her to love you back, you will be King Eddard and she, Queen Nymeria, you will run the North and The Riverlands together, and you'll produce a heir, and live your life together, loving one another with all your hearts" Lord father insists as we reach the top step of the tower, the stone walls briefly lit by torches and slits in the stone that allow a little of the suns light in. 

  The steps directly expose us to the solar, a fine, large room that has floods of golden light in, the warm sun gently casting its arms across the stone ground, and the large table that sits in the direct center of the room, the amount of light that touches it makes it look like its being worshiped by the sun, by the gods. Lord Ryon Forrester, Hand of the King sits in the center chair that is somewhat taller than the rest, the lord dressed in a pinned black doublet with thin long sleeved undergarments, his soft blonde hair is undone, lying in loose curls on his forehead, his face somewhat skinny, with defined cheekbones, Lord father selected him as Hand for his support in gaining independence for The North. Lord father appointed Thorren Glenmore, a man of broad shoulders with thick, matted brown hair sits next to him, he was appointed Master of Laws when Lord Ryon suggested his service. Positioned at the top end of the large table, a man of round stomach draped in his house colors of blue-green, Lord Wyman Manderly sits with his busy beard, his skinny lips peeking through his matt of brown hair, Lord father appointed him Master of Coin. Lord Greatjon Umber, a man with a white beard, dressed in a fine doublet of wool sits on the table next to Thorren Glenmore, he took has a swelled stomach yet not as swelled as Wyman Manderly, Lord father appointed him Master of Whispers. As well as they great lords, Maester Waylar, a old man with a slight spot of balding on the crown, him dressed in his grey robes with his chain, that clinks and chinks as he walks or adjusts himself as he sits. Lord Commander Royce Harner, draped in golden chain-mail, his golden helm tucked under his arm as he rises to his feet, his blue cloak draping from his shoulders, as does all the other great lords, all bowing their heads in turn. 

  "Your Grace, Your Highness" Lord Ryon sounds, his voice deep, a little more deeper than what I would expect for a man of his rather thin stature, I would expect it more on Thorren Glenmore than Lord Ryon. 

  Lord father takes the lead, walking around the head of the table as the rest of the lords regain their seats, the shuffling of chairs as they pull them in, so that all the lords sit around the thick, strong wood table that was imported up from Riverrun, a gift to Lord father from his uncle Edmure. I let out a smile and the nod of the head to Lord Wyman as he nods to me, in respect I think, or out of the ideology of respect anyway, he is devout to The North, he would not betray our family, not after Lord father gave him the title of Master of Coin, giving him the up most highest of honor, upon him and his family. There is not a sound from my chair, a high chair with a crown stitched into the back of the seat, the crown for a Crown Prince. 

  "I do not wish to hurry our meeting today for as you all know, my Lady mother is arriving anytime soon, and I wish to greet her at the earliest opportunity" Lord father greets everyone, lowering himself into the highest, grandest of the chairs at the table. "I have informed Prince Eddard of our agreement with Prince Trystane, I was informed that a raven arrived from Dorne, have we heard anything Lord Wyman?" 

  "Maester Waylar greeted me this morning with the letter from Dorne" Lord Wyman replies, sliding the piece of parchment across to Lord father, my eyes fixated on the roll of cream, yellowed piece of parchment that has future upon it, my marriage, my entire life depends on the reply from Dorne. 

  Lord father takes hold of the parchment, breaking the seal that keeps the piece of parchment tightly rolled up in a tube. It takes a moment, yet that moment seems to last a lifetime, my heart thundering in my chest, like a crazed man reeking havoc across his land, it thunders roughly against my rib-cage. I'm scared. I'm scared for I don't know how my life is going to be, whether it is with Princess Nymeria, or with another girl, the only thing that I know for certain is that I will not have a say in it, I will not have a say in who I love, if I ever will love, but I hope that it will come, it is just scary, the idea I will live with a girl I do not know...but it can't be all bad, not really. I know that I can learn to love, we can learn to get to know each other, however I feel as if it depends on her, on the girl I will marry for if she is caring, and comforting, I can be that also. When Lord father coughs up, getting all of our attention, my heart skips a beat, it races faster and faster until I know what will happen with my future, for as much as I do want to know the outcome, I cannot turn my attention away from him, from the words he speaks. 

  "Your Grace, in our past relations I believe that we have one common goal, that the safety of our children, and the stability of our nations are of key value, having spoke with my wife, Princess Aliandra, we have come to the agreement that we accept your marriage proposal, we are pleased to accept Crown Prince Eddard into our family as you are of Princess Nymeria, and at your invitation, we shall travel to Winterfell in the coming days" Lord father reads.

  Instantly there is a large uproar, large hands clapping together as they all, all of them with their eyes turn towards me, even Maester Waylar taps his hand on the grand table in support of the marriage. Listening to the message, somewhere deep inside me I knew that this would be the outcome, that I would be set to marry Princess Nymeria, who they say is the most beautiful of the three daughters of Prince Trystane and Princess Aliandra, and that is all that I know of Princess Nymeria. Lord fathers hand grasps my shoulder, a grasp of happiness, of pride also, for my child with Princess Nymeria will be King of The North, King of The Trident and Prince of Dorne, in a matter of years, father has with this wedding conquered three of the Seven Kingdoms. Something they've already been talking about clearly, as Lord Ryon speaks up.

  "With this marriage, we will have taken three kingdoms from the Lannister's, they will not be happy with what will come about, with our alliance with Dorne, what's to say they will stay seated while we snap up every kingdom around them" Lord Ryon sounds, resting his hands on the table in front of him. 

  "We cant do anything just yet, we place an extra hundred men on the Riverlands boarder and they'll smell a rat without anything happening" Lord Commander Harner raises up his voice. 

  "But we cannot leave ourselves exposed on the boarders encase they try to attack, they still have five kingdoms as far as they are concerned, they can call their banners anytime, if they smell anything not right" Lord Wyman inputs. "The Iron Bank of Bravos has agreed to a further loan, we can support our men, we just have to say the word and we shall be fine if anything was to happen" 

  "We do nothing" Lord father breaks into the conversations. "We need men to greet the Martell party as soon as they cross into the Riverlands, I'm sure my Lady mother would be more than willing to great them as they arrive, Maester would you write back to Prince Trystane, thanking him for the marriage but do not send the raven until Prince Eddard has delivered his letter for Princess Nymeria-' he turns to me now, his face rather stern and regal, as a king should '-I wish for the raven to be sent by tomorrow Ned, you need to get to know her, you will be husband and wife, you will be king and queen" 

  I nod. "May I be excused my lords, I fear I better start writing my letter". 

  "Of course" Lord father replies. "If you need any help, I am perfectly sure your Lady mother will help you" 

  He offers me an encouraging smile, he must see the frightening expression that battles its way across my face, yet I don't seem to be good at hiding my true feelings, that I am scared of what is to come, that I am scared of the future, yet the future is tomorrow, and I shouldn't be scared of it, but I am. I am scared of marriage, I am scared of how this will end up, once I marry, there will be no going back, but the deal is done now, and somehow in my mind, I need to accept it, I need to accept that my future has been decided, that it is set in stone. I have to get my head around it, but I don't want to right now, I want to forget for a moment, and just have one last night of fun, for this will be the last chance I have, because I plan to be a loyal and honorable husband, bedding no one but my wife, which now will be Princess Nymeria. Taking a deep breath, I push myself up onto my feet, the rest of the council rising too before sitting back down as I head from the solar, hurrying down the spiraling steps of The Tower of the Hand. 

  I find myself in the courtyard, my siblings Bran, Rickon, Rodrik and Lyanna and Lady mother have not returned to the courtyard, them all having went to get prepared for Lady grandmothers arrival, if she has not arrived yet, she should be arriving momentarily. The sun somewhat blinds me as I come from the dark stairwell, I pause for a moment, wondering where he would be, where Ethan would be, we are good friends, from time to time we have been more than friends but this time, it is the only time I will get, the only time we will get to be together before everything changes. I glance back at The Tower of The Hand, is this a good thing, of course it is, but for a moment I stop because Lord Ryon Forrester is Ethan's brother, it seems wrong, I don't know how but it does to me, in this moment however I don't care, Ethan is the only one who can care for me now. I hurry across the courtyard in the direction of the training ground, he'll be there, I know he will be for we have always trained together, he's been ward here at Winterfell for several years now, and we've gotten along kindly, friendly, passionately, we get along, he is my best friend and I hold him close to my heart. 

  Ethan Forrester with shaft of golden light bouncing of his blonde locks of hair, that are mud stained from the grass that has been soaked from a spot of rain, creating mud patches to intersect the training field. He stands roughly the same height as me, me slightly taller than him, however that does not matter, placing my fingers in my mouth I whistle loudly, a small smile creeps across my face as he almost falls into a patch of mud as he turns around. His sapphire blue eyes flash in the golden light as he holds the sword in his hand, the sapphires could have easily being plucked from Tarth and put into his eyes, they glisten in the sunlight as he gently jogs over, his pristine while smile spread across his face, his faint blonde curls limp on his forehead, he digs the blade into the grass, resting his hands on the hilt. 

  "What can I do for you?" He asks politely, he smile spreads somewhat more, a bright smile that appears to match that of the sun, it just makes me think, how will he react? I know I am scared, there is something between us, we both know nothing can happen, we both know that we have too much to loose if anyone catches us, but we do it because we can care for one another in way that a lady would, only there has been none of them, there has just been us two until now, until the foundations of my marriage, until I found out just minutes ago.

  "I - I need to speak with you... in my chamber" I whisper the latter, hoping he will understand but I know he will, there has been situations like this before, where he has come to me, or I have gone to him, whenever we need comforting, or even if there has been a time when we need have some fun. 

  He doesn't need to say anything, he pulls the blade from the ground, sliding it on his belt and we make for my quarters, for there we will have utter privacy where we can talk, and care, for I'm sure he will be able to comfort me in a way that he knows will work. He always knows what to do, Ethan knows everything, he is the best friend that you can trust with anything, you can trust him to keep secrets, to keep his tongue, to be there when you need him and in return I do the same, we have enough trust in one another that I would trust him with my life. My chambers are connected to the Great Hall, the place in which huge banquets are held when guests of the king come, and I am sure that is where the wedding ceremony will be held, where guests can watch and then another will be held, before the weirwood tree for I belong to the Old Gods, my family has always worshiped the Old Gods in the Godswood. We climb the stone steps of the tower, climbing them, me leading the way with Ethan following me only a step behind, I dare not speak of my marriage, not yet for if someone heard, it would travel like wildfire and I don't like Lady mother even knows yet, not officially. However, I'm sure Lord father will tell her in due course. 

  My chambers are always kept warm, braziers are kept burning in the large room where a poster bed lies upon a raised platform, it stands draped in the finest of comforters, the bedding made up of fur, it surely does keep me warm during the night, Lord father says that it would keep me warm even in cold winters. The fire burns brightly, flames licking the stone walls while a bear skin lies on the ground before it, several wooden chairs pointing the fire. It is naturally warm today, but the fire and braziers make sure that it will never go cold, in The North it can change with a wisp of a breeze, or so grandmother has told me, she has told me tails of winter, and summer, both of which are naturally cold in The North. I ensure that the wooden door behind us closes, bolting it. Ethan has removed his sword, setting it on the table by the window, I watch him for a moment before he takes a seat on the edge of my bed, grasping the fur bedding. 

  "What has happened, Ned?" Ethan asks, running a hand through his limp curls of blonde, removing most of them from his forehead, his sparkling blue eyes looks as me full with concern, I can see it in his eyes, he just wants to help, I know he does. 

  "My father" I reply, travelling a couple of steps to join him on the edge of the bed, one leg crossed so I sit facing him, rather than standing above him as he sits. "He got word from Prince Trystane, they have been speaking, sending letters and messages to one another, I am to wed Princess Nymeria of Dorne" 

  As soon as her name has passed my lips, I feel his faint pink ones against them, his hands holding my waist as his sweet scent, somewhat sweaty from training but it doesn't worry me, for this will be the last time that this happens, and even though it is wrong, wrong on so many levels I can't help but wanting to enjoy this to the fullest, to enjoy this, for it to pleasure me for I know it will be the last time, and that's why I'm going to enjoy it, for after this it shall be a happy memory I hold of him. My eyes falling naturally closed, I allow for Ethan to lead, to allow him to take charge, my lips replying to his, as I lay back against the warm furs, a smile appears upon my lips as they kiss him, his tender lips that have pleasured me many times. I am going to enjoy this, instead of refraining myself when I would normally remain neutral, let him care for me, instead my arms curl around his neck, pulling him closer, my legs wrapping around his as his fingers work the latches of my doublet. It would be the best time we'd share together. 


End file.
